The Arrest and Rescue of Chen Duxiu13 (July
14,1919)
The former dean of humanities of Beijing University, Chen Duxiu, was arrested at
the Beijing New World Market on June 11.14 According to the police report, the reason
for his arrest by secret agents was that on this evening leaflets containing a manifesto
of the townspeople were being distributed at the New World. Only after inquiry at
the police station was it discovered that the person arrested was Mr. Chen. The text
of the so-called manifesto of the Beijing townspeople, as disseminated by Chinese and
American news agencies, reads as follows:
the European war.
Duan Zhigui, and Wang Huaiqing,15 and have them expelled from Beijing.
Command.
at Beijing University, but was forced to resign in March 1919 under pressure from leading conservative
intellectuals, backed by the warlords. In 1920 Chen moved to Shanghai, where he continued to publish
New Youth, and in August organized the Socialist Youth League. He coordinated the organization of
Communist study groups throughout China. In July 1921, although Chen was not able to be present at
the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, he was elected secretary of the Party’s
Central Bureau, a position he took up in August 1921.
5. Press for a peace agreement between north and south.
The above six articles are the people’s minimum demands of the government, and
it is hoped that these objectives will be achieved by peaceful means. If the government
does not accede to the will of the people, the people of the city of Beijing will have no
choice but to take direct action to achieve fundamental reform.
The above text is the leaflet containing the manifesto of the townspeople of
Beijing. We have seen it and find nothing all that extraordinary in it. The arrest
of Mr. Chen by the government has been reported in all the papers, and he has been
seriously mistreated. The entire Beijing student body has presented a public petition
to the police station requesting his release, the text of which reads as follows:
To the Police Inspector General: Most respectfully, we have recently heard of the
arrest by military police of the former dean of humanities of Beijing University, Chen
Duxiu, on serious false charges. Students and others find this impermissible and raise
the following two major points. (1) Mr. Chen is highly respected in academic circles,
and his words and ideas are known and well regarded both at home and abroad. Should
he be falsely accused of any crime, it is feared that this would incite yet another nationwide student uprising. Coming just at the height of the present student movement,
this is hardly a measure designed to calm things down. (2) Mr. Chen is despised by
most of those of the old school for promoting the new literature and modern thought.
We truly fear that his arrest at this time will make people at home and abroad suspect
that the military police authorities have intentionally manufactured this ruse as one
step in stamping out modern thought. At present, a variety of problems have already
made the situation very complex. Why make the situation even more divisive by creating yet another issue? For these two reasons the students and others petition your
honorable office for the early release of Chen Duxiu.
The Beijing students have also sent the following telegram to the newspapers,
schools, and others in Shanghai:
Mr. Chen Duxiu has been the most effective advocate of modern thought and is
indeed highly respected in the academic world. He has today been arrested, and his
home has also been searched. This has caused widespread anxiety. In addition to
attempting to find a way to rescue him, it is hoped that all citizens will take notice.
The Shanghai Industrial Association has also sent a telegram requesting Chen
Duxiu’s release. It reads in part, “Venting your anger over the Beijing student movement on one man, Mr. Chen, is the germ from which great chaos will begin.” The
government is not yet so befuddled as to be completely out of touch with the general
situation outside and may be expected to release him soon. Even if it is absolutely
bent on setting up a prison for words, I’m afraid that the government will not have the
stomach to wage a life-and-death struggle against the tide of the new thought movement, which is sweeping the whole world. Zhang Xingyan16 has been an old friend of
Mr. Chen for many years. When Chen was appointed dean of humanities at the university, Zhang was director of the university library and professor of logic in the graduate
school. When Mr. Chen was arrested, Zhang sent a long telegram to Wang Kemin17
Cao, Zhang Zongxiang, and Lu Zongyu were meeting, was stormed by student protesters on May 4.
Cao escaped without injury, but continued agitation led to his being dismissed from office on June 10,
Imperial Tokyo University with Cao Rulin, returning to hold various government posts. In 1916, when
the Nishihara loans negotiations began, Zhang, as Chinese ambassador to Japan and an old friend of
Cao, handled the affair at the Japanese end. He was hurt by students on May 4 as they stormed Zhang’s
house, and was relieved as ambassador on June 10, 1919. Lu Zongyu (1876–1941), zi Runsheng, was
born in Zhejiang Province. An old friend of Cao Rulin, Lu preceeded Zhang as ambassador to Japan in
Japanese loans negotiations. In 1919 he was head of the Beijing government Financial Office, until his
dismissal in June 1919. Duan Zhigui (1868–1925), zi Xiangyan, was born in Anhui Province. A trusted
lieutenant of Yuan Shikai, military commander of the Northeast and civil governor of Fengtian, he later
became a close associate of Duan Qirui. During the May Fourth period he was commander-in-chief
of the Armed Forces for the Protection of the Capital, and enforced a policy of mass arrests. Wang
Huaiqing (1886- ), zi Maoxuan, born in Zhili, studied at the Tianjin Military Academy and became
renowned for military achievements as a Beiyang Army commander under Yuan Shikai. On May 21,
1919, Wang was appointed acting police inspector general, and on July 31 his post was made official.
The police inspector general petitioned to by the Beijing students would have been Wang Huaiqing.
in Beijing, asking him to deliver it to the police station and seek Chen’s release. The
sense of it was:
… Mr. Chen has always devoted himself to teaching, and throughout his life has
stayed clear of the stench of political cliques. On this occasion, even if he used some
inappropriate language, why should he be thrown into prison like a common criminal,
and deprived of his normal contacts? Moreover, just as the student movement was
about to die down, how could you suddenly exercise literary censorship, and incite the
masses to renewed anger? This is hardly something that wise men would do.
Mr. Zhang has also sent a letter to Acting Premier Gong Xinzhan,18 in which he
puts it even more urgently:
To the honorable Mr. Xianzhou. Though it has been many years since I received
your valued instruction, it lives in my memory. In all sincerity, I have heard that the
former dean of humanities of Beijing University, Mr. Chen Duxiu, has been arrested
on suspicion of being involved with distributing a leaflet, and that he still has not been
released. From so far away I do not yet know just what the details of the case really are.
I do recall though that Mr. Chen always devoted himself exclusively to teaching. Even
though the new thought movement he promotes and his writings and theories may
not be without their excesses, they really involve only the field of literary usage, and
certainly are not tainted with the stench of politics. This is clearly verifiable. These are
troubled times in our country, and now that the student movement has just died down,
how could you follow the old tactics of criticizing behind people’s backs and vilifying
those you are supervising, thereby further inciting the people’s emotions? Wise men
would assuredly never do this. History shows that when those who wield political power
make life difficult for men of letters over literary trivia and institute literary prisons, if
they are fortunate enough to win out they will not have to resort to military force. If
they fail, popular morale crumbles and the network of authority collapses, and even a
worthy person cannot remedy the situation. A look at the past and present, in China
and abroad, shows that literary censorship is most likely to be established just at that
point when a state is in the last stages of decline and exhaustion. The end of the Ming
dynasty is just such a chilling example. Today rumor and slander abound, and good
people are menaced by fear. That there are such cases of educated people being charged
with crimes is truly an ill omen for the state and the basis for great chaos throughout
the realm. You must nip these errors in the bud, and dare to confront all aspects of the
present situation. Mr. Chen is, moreover, heroic in bearing and extremely cultivated,
and has mastered both Chinese and Western cultures. [His native] Anhui Province links
north and south, and constantly produces men of talent and military prowess, but one
of such scholarly attainment is rare indeed. That the holder of power should regard
18 Wang Kemin (1873–1945), zi Shulu, was born in Hangzhou. Wang held various financial positions
under the Republican government, including minister of finance in the administration of Wang Shizhen
from December 1917 to the resignation of the cabinet in March 1918. His next official assignment was
as a Beijing government representative to the north-south peace negotiations on February 20, 1919. He
probably renewed contact with Zhang Shizhao there.

with equanimity all worthy men from his native place I trust you will agree. Whether
throughout the country, or near at hand in a single province, to cultivate one man of
talent is by no means easy. Could you then bear to have him suddenly destroyed? I
have specially written this letter and had it delivered to request that the police release
Mr. Chen quickly. Mr. Chen and I are childhood friends, and fellow students at the
university. I am thoroughly familiar with his character and conduct. I would willingly
vouch for his innocence, and testify on his behalf…
Most respectfully,
Zhang Shizhao June 22
We regard Mr. Chen as a bright star in the world of thought. When Mr. Chen
speaks, anyone with a reasonably clear mind assents to the opinions he expresses.
China today can be said to be in an extremely dangerous situation. The danger does
not result from military weakness or inadequate finances, nor is it the danger of being
split up into many small fragments by domestic chaos. The real danger lies in the
total emptiness and rottenness of the mental universe of the entire Chinese people. Of
China’s 400 million people, about 390 million are superstitious. They superstitiously
believe in spirits and ghosts, in fortune-telling, in fate, in despotism. There is absolutely
no recognition of the individual, of the self, of truth. This is because scientific thought
has not developed. In name, China is a republic, but in reality it is an autocracy that is
getting worse and worse as one regime replaces another. This results from the fact that
the masses of the people haven’t the faintest glimmer of democracy in their mentality,
and have no idea what democracy actually is. Mr. Chen has always stood for these
two things. He once said that our only crimes against society have been for the sake
of “science” and “democracy.” For these two things, Mr. Chen has offended society, and
society has repaid him with arrest and imprisonment. This can truly be considered
a case of the punishment not fitting the crime! Thought knows no boundaries. Last
December, the head of the mainstream faction19 of the German Socialist Party, Rosa
Luxemburg, was killed by the [Social]-Democratic Party government.20 In the middle
of last month, people from the Turin area of Italy, the enemy of Germany, held a
large demonstration in her memory. There was a similar demonstration in Zurich,
Switzerland, as a memorial to her. If it was like this in countries hostile to Germany,
it must be all the more so in countries not hostile to Germany. If it is like this in other

--- Notes

13 In the Chinese texts from which our translations have been made (both the Wengao and the
Mao Zedong ji), characters in the original sources which the editors could not read are represented by
lightly outlined squares. This symbol fits neatly into a line of Chinese characters, but would not have
been appropriate here. We have therefore adopted the combination [X] instead. In this instance, 1 [X]
stands for a two-character number beginning with 1, i.e., a number between 11 and 19.
14 Chen Duxiu (1879–1942), originally Chen Qiansheng, zi Zhongfu, hao Shi’an, pseud. Zhongzi,
was born in Huaining, Anhui Province. Chen was educated in the Chinese classics but sought a modern
education, which he received at the Qiushi Academy in Hangzhou before studying in Japan. Returning to
China in 1903, he established the revolutionary newspaper National Daily News in Shanghai as a forum
for discussion of new ideas. (The paper was closed within a few months.) Chen began his academic career
as dean of studies at Anhui Higher Normal School in 1910, at the same time developing his contacts with
the publishing world. In 1914 he became junior editor of Jiayin zazhi (the Tiger Magazine). (For details,
see the note to Mao’s letter of January 28, 1916.) He was best known as founder and editor of Qingnian,
later Xin qingnian (New Youth), the most influential organ of the literary and cultural movement
leading up to May Fourth. In 1917 he accepted Cai Yuanpei’s invitation to serve as dean of humanities

15 Chen was arrested at 2 p.m. on June 11 at the Xin Shijie (New World) Market situated at
Qianmen in Beijing. He was released from prison on September 3, after being imprisoned for eighty-three days.

16 Xu Shuzheng (1880–1925), zi Youzheng, was born in Jiangsu Province. Xu was a chief military
adviser to Duan Qirui’s Beiyang army in its early days. In September 1918 he was appointed codirector
of the War Bureau and commander in chief of the Northwest Frontier Defense Army, and in November
1919 he forced the Mongol princes and ministers to sign a petition for the abolition of Mongolia’s
autonomy. This action played a key role in turning the Mongols against China.
Cao Rulin (1877–1966), zi Runtian, born in Shanghai, was one of the principal targets of the
May Fourth demonstrations. He studied law in Japan, returning to lecture at Beijing University in 1905.
In 1911 he became a personal adviser to Yuan Shikai on foreign, particularly Japanese and Mongolian,
affairs. Yuan and Cao were responsible for the Chinese side of the negotiations with Japan over the
Twenty-one Demands of 1915, and for this Cao later came under fierce attack. In 1918, as minister
of communications and acting minister of finance, he was also largely responsible for negotiating the
series of loans from Japan known as the Nishihara loans which were to finance Duan Qirui’s army, and
his plans to unify China militarily. In return, China made valuable land, mining, and communications
concessions to Japan. It was not until the 1919 Paris Peace Conference that the full extent of China’s
concessions, especially regarding the Shandong peninsula, to Japan became known. His home, where

17 On the early career of Zhang Shizhao (1881–1973), zi Xingyan, see the note to Mao’s letter of
January 28, 1916, to Xiao Zisheng. During the years immediately preceding the May Fourth movement,
he served as professor of logic in the newly opened graduate school of Beijing University, and thus
worked closely together with Chen Duxiu to promote the movement for academic reform. Although he
was, as Mao states in this article, a good friend of Chen’s, and also of Li Dazhao’s, he was not in the
mainstream of the May Fourth movement in one important sense: he considered that the beauty of the
Chinese language was to be found in the classical style, and therefore did not support the use of baihua.
With the dissolution of the assembly by Duan Qirui, Zhang moved to Guangdong and was chosen to
represent the southern military government at the north-south peace talks in Shanghai in February 1919.
In 1922 he became minister of education in the Duan Qirui government, and was severely criticized for
this by the radical intellectuals.


19 On June 13, 1919, Qian Nengxun, who was appointed acting premier on Duan Qirui’s resignation
October 10, 1918, resigned. The then finance minister, Gong Xinzhan, succeeded him as acting premier.
Gong Xinzhan (1871—), zi Xianzhou, was a member of Duan Qirui’s Anfu clique, and a former diplomat.
He remained in the position for only three months. He was, like Chen, a native of Anhui—hence Zhang’s
reference below to the consideration which rulers should have for their fellow countrymen.
20 Literally, “in the broad sense” (guangyi). Mao appears to be using the term to mean “mainstream,”
in the sense of all those committed to “real” or “full-blooded” socialism, and we have so translated it here,
and in the text dated July 21,1919, on the signing of the Versailles Treaty, where it occurs frequently.
Rosa Luxemburg’s organization called itself the Spartacus Union, and then, shortly before her death,
became the German Communist Party, but Mao manifestly regards it as a component of the “real”
socialists.


--- Notes

1. Abrogate all of the Sino-Japanese secret treaties negotiated during the period of

2. Dismiss from office Xu Shuzheng, Cao Rulin, Zhang Zongxiang, Lu Zong- yu,

3. Abolish the General Office of the Infantry and the Headquarters of the Garrison

4. A Beijing Security Force should be organized by the merchants.

6. The people have an absolute right to freedom of speech, publication, and assembly.

1919. Zhang Zongxiang (1879–1962), zi Zhonghe, was born in Zhejiang Province. Zhang studied law at

1913. He ratified the Twenty-one Demands in Japan in May 1915 and played a prominent role in the